Sitka jury convicts Klawock man of first-degree murder

SITKA, Alaska – A 30-year-old man from a southeast Alaska village has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend.

The Sitka Sentinel reports Albert Macasaet of Klawock was convicted Friday in Sitka in the July 31, 2016, strangulation death of 27-year-old Judylee Guthrie, the mother of his two children.

Klawock is on Prince of Wales Island. On the day of Guthrie’s death, the couple had been drinking with friends in Craig.

Macasaet the next day reported Guthrie missing. Later that day, he told Craig police he had found Guthrie’s body.

An investigation determined she had been hit in the face and strangled with the cord of her hooded sweat shirt.

Jurors were told that Macasaet twice previously had strangled Guthrie.

He will be sentenced Sept. 9 in Klawock.

___

Information from: Daily Sitka (Alaska) Sentinel, http://www.sitkasentinel.com/